Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Aeon Flux Still Gallery
Below are some stills from the upcoming Aeon Flux movie (opening this upcoming Friday). Be sure to also check out the official movie web site.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Bosnia unveils Bruce Lee bronze
Bosnia unveils Bruce Lee bronze
"A bronze of martial arts legend Bruce Lee has been erected in the Bosnian city of Mostar - a day before a second statue of him is unveiled in Hong Kong.
"The life-size 1.68 metre statue depicts the Chinese-American actor in a typical defensive fighting position.
"Hong Kong unveils its own statue of the kung-fu star on Sunday, at a ceremony to be attended by Lee's widow Linda.
"The Mostar unveiling was attended by the ambassadors of China and Germany, both of whom assisted the project.
"The city witnessed fierce fighting between rival ethnic factions in the 1992-95 war.
"Symbol
"It remains split with Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs still deeply divided.
"Lee was chosen by organisers as a symbol of the fight against ethnic divisions.
"'We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats,' said Veselin Gatalo of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar.
"'But one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee.'
"Lee, who died in 1973 at the age of 32, was born in the US but moved to Hong Kong as a child.
"The statue there will be unveiled on what would have been the Enter the Dragon star's 65th birthday."
"A bronze of martial arts legend Bruce Lee has been erected in the Bosnian city of Mostar - a day before a second statue of him is unveiled in Hong Kong.
"The life-size 1.68 metre statue depicts the Chinese-American actor in a typical defensive fighting position.
"Hong Kong unveils its own statue of the kung-fu star on Sunday, at a ceremony to be attended by Lee's widow Linda.
"The Mostar unveiling was attended by the ambassadors of China and Germany, both of whom assisted the project.
"The city witnessed fierce fighting between rival ethnic factions in the 1992-95 war.
"Symbol
"It remains split with Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs still deeply divided.
"Lee was chosen by organisers as a symbol of the fight against ethnic divisions.
"'We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats,' said Veselin Gatalo of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar.
"'But one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee.'
"Lee, who died in 1973 at the age of 32, was born in the US but moved to Hong Kong as a child.
"The statue there will be unveiled on what would have been the Enter the Dragon star's 65th birthday."
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Risus In Print
S. John Ross' rules very light RPG, Risus, is now available as a POD product through Lulu.com. A very interesting system, and S. John is a designer full of interesting ideas. It is ironic, though, that a six page RPG now comes in a 200 page edition.
If you haven't check it out yet, you should. The Risus homepage can be found here.
If you haven't check it out yet, you should. The Risus homepage can be found here.
Google Blog Search
Never one to leave any stone (ever) unturned, Google now has a Blog Search in Beta. I'm sure this this old news to some, but not to me. Enjoy.
Google Blog Search
Google Blog Search
GURPS Powers
This is something that I want to plug for a couple of reasons. First, it is going to be a kick-ass book. Finally, with Fourth Edition, GURPS is able to handle super-powered characters. Second, I get my first GURPS Playtest credit in this (check the Table of Contents preview) which is pretty darn cool for me.
My first "professional" attempt at becoming a game designer was back in 1986. After seeing a "want list" for proposals (back in Roleplayer, the zine for GURPS that SJG originally published) for the first edition of GURPS Supers, I sent in a proposal. It was awful and, rightly so, I received a rejection letter about it. It was a personal rejection from Steve Jackson though, which I actually thought was pretty cool.
If you haven't yet, you really need to check out GURPS 4e
, it is the best version of the system to date.
GURPS Powers
"Save the World . . . or Destroy It!
"GURPS Powers is the ultimate book for the ultimate characters in the new Fourth Edition of GURPS! Here's everything you need to create every kind of amazing, off-the-chart superhero you can imagine . . . as well as amazing wizards, wuxia fighters, shamans who command spirits . . . even gods!
"Written by GURPS Line Editor and Fourth Edition co-author Sean Punch, GURPS Powers introduces some new rules, but it is mostly about using the rules that are already in the GURPS Basic Set to cover superpowered characters, megawizards, and earth-shattering psionics. GURPS Powers also include guidelines for 'special effects' and several different ways to vary a power on the fly -- two crucial concepts for comic-book superheroics.
"GURPS Powers is a Fourth Edition GURPS book that completely replaces the Third Edition books GURPS Supers and GURPS Psionics. Like our other Fourth Edition supplements, it's a gorgeous 240-page, full-color hardback.
"If you've got a high-powered campaign . or high-powered players . you want GURPS Powers!"
My first "professional" attempt at becoming a game designer was back in 1986. After seeing a "want list" for proposals (back in Roleplayer, the zine for GURPS that SJG originally published) for the first edition of GURPS Supers, I sent in a proposal. It was awful and, rightly so, I received a rejection letter about it. It was a personal rejection from Steve Jackson though, which I actually thought was pretty cool.
If you haven't yet, you really need to check out GURPS 4e
, it is the best version of the system to date.
GURPS Powers
"Save the World . . . or Destroy It!
"GURPS Powers is the ultimate book for the ultimate characters in the new Fourth Edition of GURPS! Here's everything you need to create every kind of amazing, off-the-chart superhero you can imagine . . . as well as amazing wizards, wuxia fighters, shamans who command spirits . . . even gods!
"Written by GURPS Line Editor and Fourth Edition co-author Sean Punch, GURPS Powers introduces some new rules, but it is mostly about using the rules that are already in the GURPS Basic Set to cover superpowered characters, megawizards, and earth-shattering psionics. GURPS Powers also include guidelines for 'special effects' and several different ways to vary a power on the fly -- two crucial concepts for comic-book superheroics.
"GURPS Powers is a Fourth Edition GURPS book that completely replaces the Third Edition books GURPS Supers and GURPS Psionics. Like our other Fourth Edition supplements, it's a gorgeous 240-page, full-color hardback.
"If you've got a high-powered campaign . or high-powered players . you want GURPS Powers!"
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Get Killed By Stephen King!
Here's a cool one for geeks...win an ebay Celebrity auction and become a character in a book by one of your favorite authors.
Writers' Plot Thickens Into Auction for Free Speech
"Now's your chance to die in a Stephen King novel or be portrayed 'in a good light' in the next thriller from John Grisham -- while championing the cause of free speech.
"That's the idea behind a charity auction on eBay that starts Sept. 1 and features 16 authors selling character names to the highest bidders. All proceeds go to the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit legal group dedicated to free speech."
Writers' Plot Thickens Into Auction for Free Speech
"Now's your chance to die in a Stephen King novel or be portrayed 'in a good light' in the next thriller from John Grisham -- while championing the cause of free speech.
"That's the idea behind a charity auction on eBay that starts Sept. 1 and features 16 authors selling character names to the highest bidders. All proceeds go to the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit legal group dedicated to free speech."
Gamers Seeing Glitches in New Xbox
I'm not really a computer gamer, but I figured that this was worth passing along, since I am sure that there are video game playing dorks out there.
Gamers Seeing Glitches in New Xbox
"Microsoft's Xbox 360, the much-anticipated video game system that made its debut earlier this week, is apparently experiencing some technical glitches -- screens freezing only minutes into a game, for example -- and that has left some users pretty upset.
"At gamer-oriented Web sites, Xbox 360 owners have reported system crashes in games such as the space-marines-vs.-aliens title Quake 4." [Washington Post site does pop-ups]
Gamers Seeing Glitches in New Xbox
"Microsoft's Xbox 360, the much-anticipated video game system that made its debut earlier this week, is apparently experiencing some technical glitches -- screens freezing only minutes into a game, for example -- and that has left some users pretty upset.
"At gamer-oriented Web sites, Xbox 360 owners have reported system crashes in games such as the space-marines-vs.-aliens title Quake 4." [Washington Post site does pop-ups]
Thursday, November 24, 2005
William S. Burroughs: A Thanksgiving Day Prayer
The link is a direct link to a .mov file of William Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer. Not your traditional prayer, but then Burroughs wasn't a very traditional person. I do, however, think that it is still pretty relevant in America today. It is well worth checking out, particularly if you aren't familiar with Burroughs' work. Just keep in mind that the link isn't very work-friendly.
Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving.
William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer
Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving.
William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production
While this may, or may not, take off here in the real world, this is something that could be of great use conceptually in Cyberpunk or other "dark future" types of role-playing games. Reading this reminded me of some of the imagery from Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. Pile enough of these onto a decommisioned naval battleship and you have the Raft. Of course in a cyberpunk world, this type of thing would most likely end up being used for permanent housing.
Vestal Design
"The SHRIMP (Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production) is an attempt to bring housing and other relief to large displaced or homeless populations, especially those who have suffered in a natural disaster. Providing shelter to a family of four, it folds up into 1/4 of a shipping container for efficient deployment."
By the way, for those who haven't heard yet, R. Talsorian Games has announced that Cyberpunk v3 is finally done, and about to go to the printer. Will this actually happen in our lifetime? Who knows.
Vestal Design
"The SHRIMP (Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production) is an attempt to bring housing and other relief to large displaced or homeless populations, especially those who have suffered in a natural disaster. Providing shelter to a family of four, it folds up into 1/4 of a shipping container for efficient deployment."
By the way, for those who haven't heard yet, R. Talsorian Games has announced that Cyberpunk v3 is finally done, and about to go to the printer. Will this actually happen in our lifetime? Who knows.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Open Core Quick
I am putting the finishing touches on my next project, and more "rules light" approach to a system. Like the baseline Open Core System, OCQ has been developed from the best in available open content. However, this is not just the Open Core System with some of the options cut out. OCQ is a complete role-playing system that has been structed from the ground level to be fast and robust, with many system difference between it and the parent system.
Playtesting of the book is winding down and I am finishing the layouts...getting them into just the look that I want them to have. People who have been playtesting and people who have seen the early layouts have been really impressed with things. I think that I have developed the system that I really want with this one (not that I don't want the other system).
OCQ will be available through the usual outlets, as well as our new online retailer of Steve Jackson Games' e23 store...once we've finished all of the paperwork for the site. Keep your eyes open for more information.
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